There is alot of buzz around this one!  It could bee one of the biggest movies of the year!  If any of those puns sting, you might not want to see Bee Movie.  It has more than you can handle.     

Jerry Seinfeld provides the voice of Barry B. Benson – a bee struggling to find himself and live an exciting, fulfilling life.  He has graduated from college, and, like all bees, is about to embark on a life of working in the hive.  However, Barry wants more. 

On a dare, he leaves the hive with the pollen jockies who collect nectar and initiate the pollination process in nature.  Of course, Barry gets separated from the other bees, meets up with a pretty human florist, Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellweger), and has a chance to change the world as we know it. 

When Barry finds out humans have been taking honey from bees (which is stealing to him), will he win a lawsuit against the major honey companies? 

Bee Movie is made for kids.  Seinfeld and gang fill the movie with an endless stream of slapstick action, physical pain inflicted on characters that would be considered torture if it occurred at Guantanamo Bay, and more bee puns than Carrot Top and Kenny Bania could ever imagine.  Even when they attempt to make the movie something more than childish by highlighting darker ideas and themes, including the massive amount of bee death in the hive, what happens when you sting someone (bees don’t want to waste that one good sting), some Ray Liotta action, the danger they face in our world, and talk of a suicide pact (which seems kind of out of place in a kids movie), all of that is overwhelmed by a very simple plot. 

Seinfeld and the rest of the writing team (Spike Feresten, Barry Marder and Andy Robin) provide a scatter brained film as we move from point to point without any one theme or idea getting fully explored.  It’s like a tidal wave of every idea they every wanted to do in a movie all spewing out of them like they got food poisoning at rat infested deli.  Each story feels inserted not to serve the movie, but to appeal to each segment of the potential audience – a bit of a romance for the lovelorn, slapstick antics for the kids, a bit of a randy joke for the guys, and more.  In the end, we get an interesting look at Barry’s big decision between fitting in and living a boring life as a drone, or striking out and exploring a strange world and taking a stand that can change bee existence forever, but also a weak court room drama and a bland final act that left me wondering why someone thought that was a good idea.  Just end it with the court case and move on.   

Keep your ears open to hear Michael “Kramer” Richards show up as a character late in the movie (I have a feeling they won’t be trumpeting his appearance in commercials), and I have to take off half a waffle for the HORRENDOUS rendition of Here Comes The Sun by Sheryl Crowe.  This is the second time I have heard her cover a song for a movie soundtrack, and it was a horrible idea both times (Sweet Child o' Mine for Big Daddy was the other).  I kind of hope George Harrison rolls over in his grave, and comes back as a zombie to get revenge (Axl Rose can help out). 

2 Waffles (Out of 4)

Bee Movie is rated PG for mild suggestive humor and a brief depiction of smoking. 

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